Auction house Christie’s confirms criminals stole some client data

Auction house Christie’s confirms criminals stole some client data

May 28, 2024 at 09:33AM

Christie’s has confirmed a data breach after a ransomware group claimed responsibility. The breach occurred earlier this month, leading to unauthorized access and theft of client data. The gang demands a ransom and has leaked a sample of the stolen data. Christie’s is handling the situation and exploring options for resolution.

Based on the meeting notes, the key takeaways are:

1. Christie’s has confirmed that personal data was stolen in a cyber attack, following the claim made by the RansomHub gang. The stolen data includes personal information of at least 500,000 clients, but there is no evidence of compromised financial or transactional records.

2. Christie’s has taken swift action to protect its systems and is notifying privacy regulators, government agencies, and the affected clients about the security incident.

3. RansomHub’s actions, which include a double extortion behavior by threatening to leak data if a ransom is not paid, are indicative of the typical approach taken by ransomware gangs.

4. Despite the claims made by RansomHub, Christie’s has refused to engage in negotiations and pay the ransom. ESET’s global cybersecurity advisor highlights that many companies are choosing this route, especially when they have backup resources and recovery plans in place.

5. RansomHub has emerged as a significant player in the ransomware ecosystem and is suspected to be an ALPHV rebrand or a group affiliated with ALPHV.

These takeaways provide a clear understanding of the security incident at Christie’s and the response taken by the company, as well as the broader context of ransomware attacks and the behavior of ransomware gangs.

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